


Extremis - Like A Phoenix

by ScarsLikeVelvet



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Extremis (Marvel), Extremis Tony Stark, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-24
Updated: 2019-08-24
Packaged: 2020-09-25 10:16:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20375122
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScarsLikeVelvet/pseuds/ScarsLikeVelvet
Summary: Tony Stark's lover gets kidnapped. It's the start of something so much bigger.





	Extremis - Like A Phoenix

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DieLadi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DieLadi/gifts).

> So this is the first story I've written in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and additionally with original characters. I'm kind of anxious to upload it, but my beta DieLadi encouraged me to just do this, so here we are. I really enjoyed writing this story and playing with the characters. It's a fix-it in a way, but not really. I think. Anyways ... I hope you like it.

Helena woke with a start. Cold water was dripping down her face and her head was pounding viciously. She blinked her eyes open and started to slowly catalogue her surroundings as she had learned during training.

This definitely wasn’t the small café she used to frequent, when on her way to her yoga classes. No, this was an old industrial building … a warehouse of some sort. 

So she had been kidnapped … again, mind you. But it did not seem to be one of the exercises the Navy loved to put their sailors and especially their SEALs through.

Her hands were bound and strung up above her head; held in place with metal chains. She had to stand on her toes, so her shoulders wouldn’t dislocate right this instant and start to hurt like a motherfucker, but if her guess was right, she would to start hurting so much more anyway and soon.

Helena let her head lol against her arm and finally looked into her captors eyes. A soft snort escaped her, when she realized it was Justin Hammer, her lovers competitor.

“You will tell me everything I want to know!”, he shouted at her. His voice was full of irrational anger, but Helena kept quiet. She would not spill secrets. Not her own, not her lovers and not those of Stark Industries and sure as hell not those of her employer, the United States Navy. She was trained better than that.

When Hammer realized, she wouldn’t start talking on her own, he smiled a truly demented smile. “Oh I will find a way to make you talk”, he told her and that was, when the torture began.

Since it was well known that she was just as much a sexual creature as her lover, Tony Stark, he did not try to rape her. But Helena thought that had more to do with the fact that he was ragingly gay and couldn’t get a hard on in the presence of a woman.

No … he took a hammer (oh the irony) and told her, he would break her bones. One after the other until she started talking.

Helena only raised her brow, daring him to get to it, while she started to center herself and tried to shut off as much of her connection from her mind to her body as she could manage, so she would not experience to much of the pain that was sure to come. And get to it he did. 

He started with her toes. She grunted, when he broke them with sure strokes of his hammer, but she stood her ground. The pain showed in the lines of her face, but she did not start talking, as he had assured her she would. 

So he began working his way slowly but surely up her feet, her lower legs, her knees and her thighs; methodically breaking her bones one by one, some in multiple places.

Helena hung limply in her restraints. Her shoulders had finally dislocated, when her legs couldn’t hold her up anymore. Tears were rolling down her cheeks, her breath was hitching, pulse racing and her throat was screamed raw from the pain she endured, but she did not talk. She did not answer a single question, he periodically asked.

She knew she was going into shock and she would have welcomed the unconsciousness, even when she did not know, if she would ever wake up again, but Hammer had already woken her up again and again, when she fainted from the pain.

He did not allow her any respite from the pain and torture. He told her, he would make sure, she would never walk again, before he changed from his mallet to a sledgehammer.

Helena thought she had been in pain before, but she realized soon it could get even more excruciating, when Hammer took her pelvis apart, before he stepped behind her and slammed the sledgehammer into her lumbar spine. 

She screamed and coughed up blood, before falling unconscious again. This time he had no time to wake her up, as the Avengers descended on him, having finally found them.

While Captain America and Iron Man made sure to get Justin Hammer into S.H.I.E.L.D.’s and the Navy’s custody, the others made their way over to Helena.

“Damn … she’s in the hurt locker”, Clint muttered, while he stepped towards Bruce and Natasha, who were getting ready to take Helena out of the suspension.

“Stop it!”, he shouted, before Bruce could lift her up.

“What is it?”, Bruce wanted to know.

“It’s not only her legs … I think he broke her pelvis and possibly her spine.”, Clint said and gestured towards her middle. He was barely able to control his voice. He liked Stark’s girlfriend. She was kickass in her field and out. A genius like Stark but with a different field. She had PHDs in several fields such as medicine, genetics, bioengineering and chemistry and masters and bachelors degrees in a host of others due to her military training. 

“Shit … get me a spine board and a vacuum mattress. I don’t know, how we will work this, but we have to get her into a stable position, before …”, Bruce started to say, when Stark stepped up beside him. His armor was retreating into the arc reactor he wore on his chest.

“No need for that. J will take care of it.”, he said and removed the reactor and gently pressed it against Helena’s sternum, before tapping the reactor twice.

The armor enveloped Helena so gently there wasn’t a hair out of place. It locked into place and J.A.R.V.I.S. informed Bruce over his ear piece on Helena’s condition and actually asked, if he should inject Helena with anything to help with the pain and get her under for the surgery she would need.

Bruce acquiesced, knowing J.A.R.V.I.S. was well versed in this kind of thing due to Tony’s antics. “I have to call her CO. Whip will have a cow, when he hears what happened to his golden child.”, Tony muttered, while he helped the others to move Helena onto a stretcher. The armor kept her in place.

“I have already informed Whip of Helena’s plight. He is positively pissed and I think, he will send someone to take Justin Hammer to task. Helena is the first woman to be allowed to participate in SEAL training. Although she isn’t out in the field at the moment, she is field ready and in peak physical condition as of her last physical given to her by the Navy. Let’s just get her to the hospital and they will take care of her.”, Phil Coulson told them while stepping up beside the stretcher.

  
*

Nearly twenty-four hours later Helena was finally out of surgery. Tony had explicitly forbidden any thoughts of amputating anything, if it wasn’t necessary and although Helena’s feet were mangled and her legs and her pelvis were a mess, the host of surgeons managed to pin and prod every splinter back into place. Her whole lower body was encased in a fixateur externa and they put her into the ICU after the long surgery.

Tony was pacing in the waiting room. The exhausted head surgeon stepped into the room and finally brought them news. “Miss Barnes will survive, but there will be repercussions. It is unlikely for her to walk ever again, since her spine was broken. Even if she does, it will be with a severe limp and she will be in pain for the rest of her live. And she lost control of her bladder and bowels permanently.”, he told them.

Tony stoically stared at the man, only uttering a sighed ‘I see’. He had known it wouldn’t be pretty and this was only the physical side of things. Psychologically Helena would be a fucking mess. She was now a prime candidate for PTSD and with her Type A personality it would be a nightmare for everyone involved.

Still he started planning.

  
  
*

Helena felt like her whole body was wrapped up in cotton wool. She slowly blinked her eyes open and took stock. The smells told her she was in an infirmary. The sounds of the soft beeping of vital monitors underlined her theory, just as well as the pain she felt. 

She had not moved a muscle, since she had a feeling she would only hurt worse if she tried. Her head lolled slowly to the side and she saw Tony sleeping beside the bed she was in. 

Behind him her uncle leaned against the wall, his arms, both the metal and the flesh one, crossed over his chest. He studied her and a relieved smile graced his face for a moment.

“Hell, girl … how do ya feel?”, he asked her softly, stepping towards the bed and pressing the call button, she felt underneath her softly twitching fingers.

“Hurts”, Helena rasped.

“And it will for a while.”, a voice she knew from experience answered from the door.

Helena did not even try to lift her head to look towards Doctor Helen Cho. Instead she accepted Helen’s fussing and the ice chip her uncle Bucky pressed against her lips.

She sucked on the ice and tried to stay awake, because she wanted answers. She clawed her way back to full consciousness, because she had started to drift. 

Helen smiled at her slow blinking eyes. 

“What’s the damage, Doc? Feel so run over.”, Helena muttered.

“I would prefer it, if we talked about that at a later date, Miss Barnes. You’ve just woken after a major surgery and a medically induced coma, so you are just out of the woods.”, Helen told her. She started to leave, but even in her drugged out state of mind, Helena’s hand shot forward and wrapped around her wrist like a steel trap. 

“I would prefer it, if you laid out the situation in straight terms, Doctor Cho. I’m a MD in my own right … so just spit it out. What damage did that asshole Hammer do and how permanent is it?”, she growled.

Her uncle laughed and Tony woke with a startled ‘Helena’. He had sat at her bedside since the kidnapping nearly two weeks prior, so he was exhausted and beside himself with worry, but seeing his lover behave so normal gave him hope.

“Later, Miss Barnes.”, Doctor Cho told her sternly and tried to free her wrist, which she shouldn’t have tried, because Helena’s grip tightened. “NO. Right now!”, she snarled.

Cho relented as she did not want to stress her unduly and started talking. Helena took the words with a stoic expression on her face and stared down at her legs. Now that she thought about it, she realized she could not really feel them. At least not the way she was used to. They felt fuzzy and achy. 

Not even her eyes betrayed the absolute devastation she felt inside. She answered Doctor Cho’s questions and let her leave this time around.

The room was silent for a while, before Tony started to babble and gently embraced Helena. Bucky just leaned back against the wall and waited for the inevitable break down.

It just did not come at least not for a while. 

  
  
*

Weeks passed by and Helena worked hard on healing. She did everything she could to heal and find her way back onto her feet. When the fixateur was finally removed, they allowed her to leave the hospital and finally move back into the penthouse. 

A nurse had been practically glued to her ass, when Tony couldn’t be by her side and Helena hated it. She wanted her old routine and independency back. The young man following her around just made her twitchy as hell; not a good thing for a SEAL; and she disliked his inclination to touch her without her express consent, just because he was her nurse. 

Helena needed to make a private call to Whip and report back, but the nurse just would not leave her alone no matter what she said. He treated her like an invalid in more ways than the pertinent one and she hated it with a passion. But she endured. She would get her way and he would pay. J.A.R.V.I.S. was recording every single interaction between them and Helena made her disgust with the man more than clear.

And now that Helena was back in the penthouse, she had access to her weapons and when the nurses back was turned, she grabbed a stun gun and put the asshole down, before manoeuvring her wheelchair into her private office and locking the door behind herself.

She told J.A.R.V.I.S. to get Whip on the line and leaned back. Helena felt exhausted, but she wanted to get back to her feet and she needed help. Help she wouldn’t necessarily get, while the whole world wanted to pamper her to death.

She knew she would blow sooner rather than later, but she did not want to. So she needed access to her lab, while Tony wasn’t in town. She had work to do and she had the resources to get back onto her feet, if they would only let her.

Lying down and taking it was so not in Helena’s genetics, that her restlessness grew with every day. 

“Phoenix … good to see you out and about.”, Whip’s voice startled her out of her depressing thoughts.

“Whip.”, she said, saluting her superior officer. 

“What can I do for you? You are still on medical leave.”, he said, eying her critically. 

“I need help. They are driving me nuts. Everyone wraps me in cotton wool and tries to cater to my every whim. I have a nurse I had to stun, just so I could make a fucking private call. I’m ready to tear my hair out. I understand that healing takes time, but it’s been weeks and they just won’t leave me alone. Even if I beg and plead. I need alone time to wrap my head around things … but if it isn’t the fucking nurse, there is everyone else here in the tower. It’s like they are all glued to my ass and I don’t know how long I can continue to cope, before I blow … and you know me blowing isn’t going to be pretty. … so please, Whip … do something.”, Helena blurted out.

“God dammit, woman … calm your cookies!”, Whip told her, before thinking about what he could do. He knew he couldn’t get her to Dam Neck, VA, since she was still on the injured list. But she needed help and he would sent her help. His fingers danced over his smartphone and he sent a message to Remy LeBeau, Helena’s teammate, battle buddy and sometimes handler.

“LeBeau will be with you in a couple of hours. Sit tight until then.”, Whip advised her.

“Thank you.”, Helena told him and J.A.R.V.I.S. cut the call.

She rolled her wheelchair towards the sofa, put the breaks in and lifted herself over to the sofa. It hurt her still tender shoulders a bit, but she breathed through the pain and after a moment lifted her legs up onto the sofa. Helena curled up on her side and drifted off to sleep.

  
  
*

J.A.R.V.I.S. kept her office locked until Remy had arrived. Tony stood in front of the door and wanted to get in so bad, but he knew he had fucked up and overwhelmed Helena. So he had chosen to wait.

He had not even been angry about finding the nurse knocked out on the floor. What he had been angry about, were the video clips J.A.R.V.I.S. had shown him about what the nurse did to Helena. The man had wound up buried in the filthiest, darkest, dankest dungeon Tony could find and it wasn’t even on the continent.

When Remy had come up to the penthouse, Tony had sighed and stepped aside.

“Tell her, I’ll be down in the workshop. If she needs me, I’ll come up.”, he told the young man and made his way down, after he shook his hand.

Remy nodded and addressed J.A.R.V.I.S. with his request to be let into Helena’s office.

The AI acquiesced and the door slid open. When Remy slipped through he sighed. Helena was pale in her sleep and he knew, she would still be in pain.

He knelt down beside her and tapped his fingers against the fabric of the sofa, knowing it would be enough to wake her and to not get himself killed.

Helena’s eyes flitted open and she stared at him. “Remy”, she muttered and a tired smile graced her face for a moment.

“I’ll take you to bed and get your meds. You need to sleep and eat; afterwards we’ll find something to do for you. You look bored out of your skull.”, he told her and carefully gathered her up into his arms.

Helena let him, because she knew while he would be careful with her, he would not try to smother her with kindness. She put her arms around his neck and directed him towards the bedroom she shared with Tony. 

While she arranged herself on the mattress, Remy found her medication and handed it to her. “Here … take it and sleep. I’ll keep you safe.”, he told her and settled down at the foot of the bed. 

  
  
*

Remy helped her settle into a routine. He got her up in the morning, made her take her meds and got her down to the gym, where they trained. He helped her keep her muscles from atrophying and to build up her core and arm strength some more. 

Afterwards they showered and ate breakfast with the Avengers. Later they found their way down into Helena’s lab, although no one wanted her down there. They thought she was too fragile in regards of her physical and mental health, but Helena insisted. She settled in front of her desk and studied the data of the Extremis virus, Tony had used to get the arc reactor out of his chest. 

Her thoughts raced and she started fiddling. The fingers of her left hand danced across the keyboard, while she wrote down ideas with her right, like she was wont to do.

Remy smiled and told her, he would take a walk in Central Park, because he knew, she would need time and she did not tolerate disturbances, while she was deep in thought.

He did not know, this would be the last time, he saw his friend in a purely human form.

  
  
*  


“Where is she?”

Tony’s voice sounded anxious. He had thrown open the doors and asked the most important question. At least for him, since he wanted to know desperately where his fiancé was.

Remy and Bruce raised their shoulders. “I don’t know. Haven’t seen her since breakfast yesterday morning.”, Bruce told the billionaire, who had been in Japan for SI meetings for the last week.

“J.A.R.V.I.S.? Where is Helena? She hasn’t answered any of my messages since last night.”, Tony asked the AI urgently.

“I’m sorry, Sir, but I don’t know. Miss Helena used the override codes and deactivated my surveillance of the labs and the penthouse. I do not know if she is still on one of those floors or if she left the building.”, J.A.R.V.I.S. answered in his cultured british voice.

“Fuck!”

Tony turned on the spot and entered the elevator again, meanwhile he was using his own override codes to get surveillance back up and running. 

J.A.R.V.I.S. detected Helena’s livesigns in the lab she did not share with Tony and Bruce, but still could not access the cameras, as Helena had blinded the lenses with spray paint.

Bruce had followed Tony and when the elevator door opened and they could see through the glass wall of the lab, he started to rant. 

“Of all the irresponsible things to do … Helena Rebecca Barnes, I should hand you over to your uncle, so he can tan your hide!”, he growled in agitation and wrestled for control so he wouldn’t hulk out; all the while hoping it would elicit a reaction out of her.

Helena’s body was prone on the ground beside her wheelchair. The holograms open showed she had been working on Extremis again, despite her fragile mental and physical state since her kidnapping and subsequent torture a couple of months prior. She had been forbidden to be alone in the labs as long as she hadn’t been cleared by Doctor Cho, but Helena had accessed her labs with Remy by her side, all the while ignoring Helen Cho’s advice.

The doctor had thought her fragile, ignoring the training Helena had gone through from very early in her life. Her father had been a SEAL and Helena had imitated his routines since she could walk. Her intelligence had made her study hard to appease her mother, but her physical training had all been done to honour her father. She had accomplished so much. Especially with the Navy’s help. No one could hurt her, if she did not let them and the empty syringe on the ground beside her told the a very different kind of story.

While most people would have thought she tried to end her misery, because what else could she feel, when she as an active woman, was crippled for the rest of her live, Tony knew she was trying to heal herself, just like he had done.

“Shit … J.A.R.V.I.S. … alert Cho … we are coming down with Helena … I think she injected herself with Extremis … and I don’t know what she did to it … her notes are inconsistent.”, Tony said, all the while flicking through the scattered notes on the holograms and on some slips of paper.

  
  
*

Helena woke with a smile on her face and the blue of her eyes glowing in the dark room, like someone had lit a fire behind her eyes.

She could feel her legs again. Without conscious thought she went through the motions of moving her toes, her feet, her legs and finally she sat up and moved her legs from the bed.

Helena took a few steps like a skittish young colt, before a gentle hand in the middle of her chest stopped her.

“Hey, love … please, sit down, before you fall down.”, Tony whispered and helped her back to the bed. Helena leaned against him and sat back down, still smiling.

“I can walk again”, she whispered with a raw voice, wincing at the feeling.

Tony gave her a glass of water and the cool liquid soothed the hurt. He held her close and asked her, in what way she had altered Extremis.

Helena softly explained she had used something similar to him. She had made herself a bloody edge armour that she incorporated into her bone structure and Extremis was tweaked to heal her and load the bots with something akin to photosynthesis and storing the energy like her body would when she normally ate. She had improved her strength and speed only in minor ways, because she was trained well enough to know she did not need more.

Tony was definitely fascinated and asked her, where she put the data of everything. He positively stared at her, when she gently tapped her fingers against her temple. 

“I even added an independent AI for security reasons … it’s still strange, but having him taking care of me constantly makes me feel so much more secure.”, Helena whispered.

Tony blinked. He had never thought about adding an AI to the HUB Extremis had created inside him, but it made sense. “Which one did you take?”, he asked Helena, because he knew instinctively she had taken one of his AIs.

“Hades … he seemed to be the most appealing … and the one I could relate to the most. He is for me, what J.A.R.V.I.S. is for you, Tony.”, Helena told him and gently stroked her fingers along Tony’s arm. “You know we can connect like that now … no matter the distance. We won’t need any headsets or phones anymore.”

Tony smiled and nodded. “You know Helen will want to take …”, he began.

“No … Helen Cho will not take a look, Tony. I know you like her and she is an excellent surgeon, but her bedside manner is shit and she is condescending as fuck. She does not recognize my training and thinks I am mentally challenged. Bruce may check me over, although I know I’m fully healed, but a doctor who is also his own patient is a fool … and I am no ones fool.”, Helena answered and Tony simply nodded. He knew he wouldn’t change Helena’s mind.

“J.A.R.V.I.S. could you please tell Bruce Helena has woken up?”, Tony asked the AI that controlled so many aspects of Tony’s life.

“Of course, sir. Doctor Banner is on his way down.”, the AI informed them.

Moments later the door to the room slid open and Bruce was there.

“Helena … you shouldn’t be up yet.”, Bruce gently chided, but he was also smiling that knowing smile. He always did, when she had been injured and did something she shouldn’t have been doing.

“I know I know …”, Helena answered and started kicking her legs. She was so grateful Remy helped her keep her muscle tone up. The muscles in her leg had not atrophied as much as she had thought they would.

“So let me take a look … and please don’t kick me.”, Bruce said and knelt down in front of her. He walked her through moving every toe, her feet and her legs. Afterwards he stood and held out his hands. “Come on … show me.”, he said and obediently she slid from the bed and took some careful steps. They were safer than before.

Bruce’s smile widened. “Great. I don’t know in what way you tweaked Extremis, but you did good. Never thought I’d see you walk again … and control your … you know”

“My bowels … you can say it, Bruce. Hammer fucked me up pretty damn good.”, Helena said, when he hesitated.

Tony snorted and shook his head. His fiance was something else.

  
  
*

Due to Bruce’s insistence Helena took her time to train herself back up again. Remy was an immense help. Since Tony was in and out of the tower due to appointments Pepper had made all around the world for him, there wasn’t anyone else who could stop her from overtraining and worrying but him.

They spent their time both in the gym and the lab. With Hades help Helena started coordinating SEAL missions again and she continued to tweak Extremis for a very special purpose.

Since she had made it possible for herself to walk again, she wanted to cure Colonel Rhodes. She knew Tony thought it was his fault and it hurt her to see her beloved feeling so bereft.

She eliminated the whole ‘online’ component of Extremis and extracted the healing factor, boosting it as much as she could for him. When she had gotten it ready, she also produced a far milder version, since both herself and Rhodey would be back in the field and since it was known that they had spinal cord injuries, they had to have something to show the world. 

Helena patented the mild version through Stark Industries, before presenting Rhodey with the special version.

He hadn’t seen her since she had been bedridden and when he came to visit the next time, she was practicing yoga with Remy and Bruce.

“Helena? … How?”, he asked her, standing beside Tony.

Helena slowly rose from the Cobra and stretched languorously, before turning towards him. “You know my multiple PHDs … I put them to good use.”, she said, while Tony and Remy answered with a softly uttered ‘Extremis’.

Rhodey’s eyes widened. “You followed your dumb as a rock lover?”, he asked.

Helena giggled. “My lover would call himself genius billionaire playboy philanthropist, but you do know that better than I do, Rhodey … and yes, I did. Although I have to admit, I tweaked her a whole lot more than he did.”

She stepped towards him and offered him a salute although they technically held the same rank though in different branches of the armed forces.

He returned the salute, before pulling her into a warm embrace. She could feel him strain to stay upright even with the braces Tony had made him.

Her lips twitched into a half smile. “You want to follow him and me?”, she asked him.

“Hu?”

Both Tony and Rhodey stared at her. 

“I know Tony still feels guilty and I can’t stand to see him like that. And I really like you, so I tweaked Extremis some more. And no … I won’t use you as a guinea pig … did that with him.”, she said and pointed towards Remy.

“Hu?”

Again both seemed to be stunned.

Helena rolled her eyes, concentrated and a dark bluish black repulsor-glove appeared on her hand. Before anyone could stop her, she shot Remy into the chest, right where his heart sat. The blast send him crashing into the wall and everyone shouted at her, while Bruce ran towards Remy, who by all rights should have been dead.

Instead he stood up, shook himself and growled. “Son of a bitch … A little warning would have been nice. So think of it next time, please.”

Helena chuckled. “Yeah … sorry, Rems.” She turned towards Rhodey and Tony. “So … interested?”, she asked Rhodey.

“Fuck … that shot should have killed him.”, Rhodey muttered.

“It should have … but it doesn’t … haven’t found anything that could as of yet … and believe me … I tried.”, Helena said in agreement.

“Fuck, babe … you didn’t tell me you could control the armor so well.”, Tony said.

Helena smiled. “Well … practice makes perfect, Tony. … by the way … before you say no, Rhodey … both he and you … you only get the healing factor. The rest … like Bloody Edge and the internal wifi … those are things I worked out of this version. And before anyone asks. I also produced a way milder version for Stark Industries … also … Tony … I might have updated your healing factor and other things. So if you want it …just hit the update button”

Rhodey sat down and anyone with eyes could see, how utterly stunned he was. His best friends fiance had worked out a way for him to stand on his own two feet again. To be able bodied again.

After about half an hour of silently contemplating the offer, Rhodey looked up. “But how will I explain this?”, he asked her.

Helena smiled. “Same way I explained it to the Navy … a Tony Stark implemented miracle.”, she said.

“The Navy?”, Rhodey asked stunned.

Helena’s brows rose. “Rhodey … I know we only met a couple of times although I’ve been Tony’s for damn near a decade … tell me what you think I do for a living.”, she answered him, her gaze flicking towards Tony who shook his head, indicating he never had told Rhodey what she did for a living.

“You work for SI. You have so many PHDs …”, he trailed of, when Helena shook her head no.

“No … well … yes … technically I sometimes do work for Stark Industries … in my downtime. I guess I never really introduced myself properly, hu?”, she said and stood at attention. “Commander Helena Rebecca Barnes, United States Navy, Seal Team 6.”, she introduced herself and had to fight the giggle that bubbled up at Rhodey’s stunned look.

“No … there are no female SEALs … no woman ever got through BUD/S.”, he said.

Helena smiled and turned towards Remy. “Well … you would be right. Helena was still a teen, when she went into BUD/S with me.”, he said. “Master Chief Petty Officer Remiel LeBeau … call me Remy.”

Rhodey blinked. “This story I have to hear.”, he murmured and nodded encouragingly towards Helena.

With a sigh Helena dropped onto the ground, sitting in a lotus position. Her hands rested on her knees and she closed her eyes. It always helped remembering. 

_ “I’m a military brat. Mum’s a Petty Officer and dad was a SEAL. I grew up on bases around the world and I loved it. It was stimulating and broadened my horizon. I learned to read, speak and write so many languages as a kid … it was awesome. Mum was medical corps and usually stationed at the Grinder … and I found it fascinating. So I wanted to run it, as soon as I was able to … they let me the first time shortly before my eighth birthday. _

_ I had such a blast … I couldn’t run the full Grinder yet … but I could do all the stations with ease … it was an adventure park for me. Mum let me run with her in the mornings after that and soon her CO allowed me to run the Grinder with the recruits. _

_ I was homeschooled at that time, so I could built my own schedule. When I was ten, I passed my GED and should have attended college … but they didn’t want someone so young … they allowed me online courses … it was a trying time … mum died in an accident and my father was still an active SEAL, so he sent me to RIMA where I took all the courses pertaining the military, but none of the rest … instead I used the time to study online. Harvard and Georgetown … _

_ I transitioned to Annapolis with two finished PHDs and another ABD. I was an honour student and when I started my five years in the Navy I applied for SEAL training. They wouldn’t let me at first. Because I was a woman. _

_ But I breezed through training and eventually they relented. They thought BUD/S would make me give up. But I had way to much fun putting all the things I learned as a kid and at RIMA to good use. _

_ I was the first woman to complete SEAL training and get into Team Six.” _

Rhodey blinked. He was absolutely stunned. “I can’t believe this”, he muttered.

Remy grinned. “Believe it. I’ve been her battle buddy since RIMA, although I didn’t go to Annapolis. I went through regular training, because I couldn’t get a scholarship.”, he said. “This woman is one badass motherfucker. Pulled my ass out of the line of fire more than once … and she’s kickass with a sniper rifle”

Helena smiled demurely, although it was true. She simply pulled her collar down and turned, showing of her Team Six Tattoo. It was a crime to have it on your skin, if you weren’t part of the group.

“Holy shit”, Rhodey muttered.

A few minutes of silence followed, before Rhodey finally locked his gaze with Helena. “You think you can get me out of these braces and back into the field?”, he asked her.

“I don’t think so … I know so. Look at me … every bone from my toes up to my pelvis and my lumbar spine was shattered. Yet here I am. In a couple of weeks I will be fieldready again. Technically I already am, but Remy wants me to take my time to heal … not only physically but also emotionally.”, Helena answered him.

“Okay … let’s do this.”

  
  
*

An hour later the four of them had gathered in the medical wing. They had made Doctor Cho leave on Helena’s insistence, since she felt really uncomfortable in the woman's presence. Tony had finally seen how Cho treated Helena and decided to separate them as much as possible. Instead of Helen Cho, Bruce was on stand by.

Helena had brought a syringe with a clear, slightly shimmery liquid from her lab and waited while Tony helped Rhodey onto one of the two beds in the room.

When the braces finally sat in the corner of the room, she stepped up to the bed. “So … just a last minute warning. This would hurt like a motherfucker, but I’ve put some muscle relaxant and morphine in this mix, so there should only be mild discomfort. If it gets too hard to bear, I want you to tell me. No need to tough it out, okay?”, Helena told Rhodey, while she slid the needle into the vein on the inside of his elbow. 

Rhodey nodded his compliance and Helena pressed the plunger down, injecting him with Extremis geared towards healing. She slid the needle out and smiled, when the puncture wound healed over immediately. 

  
“Watch him.”, she instructed Remy, before turning towards Tony. “My darling Anthony … I know what is happening with Thanos and I want to help you … the update I wrote for you … it will boost your healing, will help you get rid of the reactor, so you can use the armor regardless, if you have it or not … so I beg you … take it. Let me keep you safe.”, she whispered into his ear, gently pushing him towards the bed, when he nodded his consent.

  
  
*

Helena and Remy stood watch, while Extremis took its course. Without Rhodey uttering a word, Helena injected him with another shot of morphine, when she could see him struggling not to voice the pain he felt.

Beside him Tony was facing his own demons, so to speak. The new healing factor worked him over good and healed the damage normal for his age. It hurt, but Tony didn’t demand anything for his pain. He reveled in it. 

Helena sat on the edge of the bed and leaned over Tony. She studied him for a moment before gently kissing him. “Everything will be alright.”, she murmured into his ear with a smile.

Dark brown eyes held her gaze, while a soft whimper escaped plush lips. “I’ll stay with you, my darling Iron Man.”, she whispered and wrapped his hand in hers.

Tony’s eyes slipped shut and a lovely warmth spread through her. He trusted her so much.

  
  
*

Three days later Colonel James Rhodes took his first steps without braces after spending two years in them. Helena watched him with a proud smile. His eyes were brimming with happy tears.

Tony was with him every step of the way, ready to catch him, should he fall.

  
  
*

Shortly after helping them, Helena got summoned to Dam Neck, VA and back into the thick of the covert ops missions that is the live of a Navy SEAL.

She had eloped with Tony, but they hadn’t even been granted their wedding night. Something which irked both of them, but couldn’t be helped.

Helena went on so many back to back missions, she had to use Hades to keep track of Tony, who had finally agreed to use one of his other AIs to stay in contact. 

So a long time went by, where they didn’t see each other face to face and most of the time, Helena had to keep radio silence, something that troubled her, because she felt, something was about to go very wrong.

She was on a mission in Afghanistan, her team by her side, when Hades alerted her to an emergency transmission made by J.A.R.V.I.S.. It started with the code Foxtrot India X-Ray India Tango and followed by a video message from Whip that they were pulled from the mission and pick up would be imminent.

“Boys … stand down. We get picked up really soon. Something is incredibly wrong stateside.”, she told them, staring at the satellite phone, although she had received the message through Hades, something only Remy knew about.

Cosmo and Dean stared at her, but Remy started to pack up his back. Helena raised her brow and started to gather her equipment, packing it up.

“Will we be picked up by a chopper or a car?”, Dean asked her.

Helena shrugged. “Don’t know.”, she answered. Fifteen minutes later the question was answered, when a quinjet silently dropped from the sky.

Remy shrugged and followed Helena on board, while Dean and Cosmo stared at the jet. 

Helena turned. “You coming?”, she asked them and both ran after them. 

  
“Who’s flying this thing? There is nobody on board.”, Cosmo asked.

Helena smiled. “I will get us back stateside, although I suppose, I don’t need to.”, she answered, while dropping into the pilot seat. “J. Talk to me. What’s wrong?”

There was no verbal answer, but a whole lot of data was dropped into her head. Hades helped her sort it out and with every bit and byte her brain processed, she grew angrier.

“Okay … so let me get this straight, J, they lost Tony in space and didn’t inform anyone and they deactivated your server farm at the compound Tony pays for?“, Helena said with barely controlled anger. Her eyes were glowing in an iridescent blue and even Remy stepped back.

“Yes. That would be right, Madam.”, J.A.R.V.I.S. answered. “Okay … do you have enough processing power or do you want to jump aboard? Hades will share with you, if you want to?”

“I’ve got myself enough backup servers, so I am good. But thank you for asking.”

“Great. So let’s get my husband back to earth. Which AI did he take with him?”, Helena wanted to know.

“FRIDAY.”, was the answer and Helena smiled. The female AI was a sweet thing, until she was not. Just like Helena. 

“That’s great. Let’s contact her then”

“I can’t connect with her.”, J.A.R.V.I.S. admitted.

“Not a problem … I know you need a proper authorization, so let’s get down to business. Foxtrot India x-Ray India Tango and on top let’s just say Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo India Tango.”

“Are you sure you want to do this, Madam? You know what will happen, when we start operation Fuck It.”, J.A.R.V.I.S. questioned.

“Yes. I do know what will happen and I guess I am ready to take my rightful place at Tony’s side. The JSOC gave me authorization to open up a training facility at the compound and continue as a field operative in special cases as long as they get to pick my brains for missions. I want you to activate Hercules and Hera and take back the compound. Do not alert the Avengers or S.H.I.E.L.D. but the facilities are ours and well … let’s just take them by surprise.”

Remy sat down beside her. “You’ll retire from the field for him?”, he asked her.

Dean and Cosmo starred. They could not believe their CO would leave them over some guy and they voiced it.

Helena smiled. “Sure do, Rems. I love him with all my heart and I will be damned if I let those stupid fuckers kill my husband, when TPTB didn’t even grant us our fucking wedding night.”

“Just who the fuck is her husband?”, Cosmo asked.

“Anthony Edward Stark”, Remy answered absentmindedly, while poking at the console in front of him. 

J.A.R.V.I.S. gave him the answers he longed for, while Helena retreated into her mind, working together with Hades and J.A.R.V.I.S. to move several official and unofficial satellites, to contact Tony.

It took them the whole flight back stateside to get into contact, but finally they reached FRIDAY. The young AI was not amused and told them about the loss of life in the universe Thanos had caused and how devastated Tony was, because his protege Peter Parker a.k.a. Spider Man was one of the casualties.

Helena held it together and gave FRIDAY instructions on how to get the spaceship back to earth, since Tony was injured, starving and insomiac as fuck (as FRIDAY put it). FRIDAY relayed Helena’s instructions to the young alien woman named Nebula that had stayed with Tony after the Snap, who promised to take care of Tony and get him back home, but it would still take time, since they were far from earth.

Helena said to tell her she understood and she would be ready for them. Afterwards she set up a small tether to FRIDAY so she could monitor both the young AI and Tony.

Her first stop back stateside was at SEAL headquarters to get her altered papers and new credentials, since she was promoted to Captain effective immediately. 

She asked for her team to be allowed to accompany her and start up the new training facilities in upstate New York and got permission.

  
  
*

When they finally arrived upstate, they did a perimeter check and started to divide the estate into two. Helena made Dean and Cosmo do it, because she had other things to do.

She stepped into the main building of the compound and walked past any person she encountered. She did not talk, she did not stop. Remy stayed by her side.

Captain America fell into step beside her and started to talk at her, even though Remy told him not to bother, since Helena was a woman on a mission. He did not listen.

“What do you think you are doing? You can’t step in there!”, he told her, when Helena stopped in front of the room that held the server farm. 

“Oh, but you will find I can. This is my property and it is my …”

“This is the Avengers Compound! You have no right to even be in here. It is a courtesy to Tony, we even let you come in.”, Steve Rogers told her.

“That is what you think, Captain?”, she said derisively, while opening the room and stopping him from entering with her palm on his chest. “It is you, who has no right to be here. I know all about how you still did not sign the Accords and what you did to Tony to ‘defend’ my uncle. You are lucky I ensured he would live or you would be buried somewhere no one can find you.”, she growled.

“You don’t mean that. You love your uncle.”, Rogers protested.

“I do. But I love Tony more. Bucky has been in my live for a short while, while I’ve known Tony since I started college as a child. Now go away. I have to get things up and running here!”

Remy stepped into the room and the door closed in Captain America’s frowning face. The man felt just so disappointed and Helena found she didn’t care. 

“I think if he steps out of line again, I will kill him. Consequences be damned”, Helena muttered, while she started to reboot J.A.R.V.I.S. server farm. 

“And I think you have a willing accomplice in me.”, Remy murmured. 

“Thank you.”

  
  
*

Helena was in MTAC coordinating a SEAL mission in Kasachstan, when Hades and J.A.R.V.I.S. both silently alerted her that Tony was back on earth and had landed in the compounds yard. 

She wanted nothing more than see her husband, but she couldn’t hand of and leave the team right now.

Three hours later she could finally leave the Multiple Threat Alert Centre and search for him. When she found Tony, she wasn’t pleased, not in the least.

Her eyes scanned over his body, when she entered the meeting room, where Captain America was interrogating him. Without hesitation she stepped up to him and punched him square in the face without pulling her punches. He went down like a ton of bricks and moaned in pain, since she had broken his jaw, nose and cheekbone.

Remy, who had followed her, put his hand on her shoulder, but she shrugged him off. 

“You always talk about how much you care about your friends … I guess my uncle is your only friend” Helena’s gaze flickered towards Bucky, while she knelt in front of Tony and pulled the infusion out of his arm. “Interrogating my husband will wait until he has been fed and watered and at least slept 12 hours.”

“We have to debrief him, while everything is still fresh.”, Rogers protested, although talking hat to hurt him. 

“You know it is considered torture to do so, right? You are torturing an injured man. Has anyone seen to his wounds? Has he been checked over? Has anyone given him something to eat or drink?”, Helena pressed on.

“He didn’t want what we brought him!”, Rogers protested.

Now it was Bucky who snorted. “Yeah … if I hadn’t eaten in weeks, I wouldn’t want to start out with a greasy burger, soda and coffee. It’s a recipe for disaster and Stark knows this. But you wouldn’t listen, Stevie.”

Helena sighed. “Remy … arrest Captain Rogers. Charge him with everything you can make stick.”

Tony hadn’t protested once. He was delirious, his head lolled to the side and she knew, she had to do something, when he mumbled the name of the young alien woman. “Nebula”

“Where is she?”

“She is in the holding cells.”, Natasha admitted.

“Why? Did she do anything?”, Helena prodded.

Natasha shook her head. “No. Steve just thought, it would be better than have her roam our planet, as he put it.”

Helena felt a headache coming on. “Barton, Romanoff, fetch her.”, she ordered.

“You can’t order anyone around.”, Rogers protested hotly.

Helena snorted. “You will find that I can, Captain Rogers. While our ranks have the same name, I am in the Navy and a Navy Captain has the same rank as a colonel in the Army. So I outrank you. And since this is Tony’s and my compound and Tony is still the de facto leader of the Avengers … well you catch my drift. So move it!”, Helena growled and gently pulled Tony into her arms. She held him bridal style and close to her chest. 

Tony tried to put his arms around her shoulders, but he was to exhausted. A sound of displeasure escaped him and she smiled. “Shhhh … I will get you back on your feet in no time, honey. SEAl style.”, she told him and left the meeting room, knowing her orders would be obeyed. Remy would make sure of it.

  
  
*

Fifteen minutes later she had Tony in the bathtub and gently cleaned him up. She rinsed his hair repeatedly and gently shaved his beard. 

Tony was nearly asleep, when she lifted him out of the water and dried him with gentle motions. She helped him into sweatpants and a soft shirt, before carrying him out onto the patio and into the sun.

Dazedly Tony blinked. “Bed?”, he asked her.

Helena shook her head. “No, darling … not in the way you think … but you can rest. I’ll take care of you.”, she told him and laid him down on a sunbed. With careful motions she put cushions unter him and sat down by his side, after fetching some things out of their rooms.

“I know you will hate me for this, but it will make you feel better.”, she told him, while she pulled out a feeding tube out of it sterile packet.

Tony’s eyes widened for a moment, but he nodded his consent, realizing it would be better to go along with everything Helena did.

“Close your eyes … and when I tell you swallow.”, she told him, before she gently guided the feeding tube down his nose and into his stomach. As a reward she kissed him and carded her fingers through his damp hair, before she connected a bag of nutritious sludge to the tube.

Tony shuddered a little and eyed the bag questioningly. “This sludge is full of good things … tastes like shit, but is full of vitamins, electrolyte and calories.”, she told him.

“How much?”, he asked roughly.

“Around 2.000 in a 500 ml bag. You’ll get three a day, so your body can fill up your stores again. And now turn on your side. This one is going to be a real fucker, but it will help against the headache and the dehydration.”, Helena whispered, while she readied a hydration enema.

Tony rolled his eyes, but complied. He had seen Helena get one more than once and if she could endure one, he could too.

When she was ready, Helena tucked his pants down and gently inserted the tube into Tony’s anus, putting the bag full of warm electrolyte filled water on his side. She held his hand, while thinking about putting him on an infusion of NaCl. 

Tony started shaking, so Helena slipped behind him and held him close. “Shhh … you’re home and I’ll keep you safe. Just relax in the sun and sleep. You’ll feel better.”, she whispered and started to hum a gentle lullaby.

She watched her husband fall asleep in her arms and sighed. He had a long road to recovery ahead of himself, but she finally had the time to assist him. 

  
  
*

Hours later the door that lead to the patio opened and Remy stepped out. “How is he?”, he softly asked Helena.

“Emaciated, dehydrated, plagued with insomnia. His PTSD is flaring … he’s just asleep, because I drugged his body into compliance, because he needs it.”, Helena said.

“Are you okay with Nebula coming out? She’s been begging to see Tony since Barton and Romanoff brought her up from the holding cells.”, he told her.

Helena hesitated for a moment. “As long as you stay with us … I have to concentrate on Tony. He tries to use Extremis to metabolize the sleepy juice I gave him and I have to fucking sit on it, to prevent him from doing this.”, she said.

“No problem.”, Remy said and dropped a kiss against Helena’s temple, before he stepped back towards the door and opened it. He led the blue skinned young alien out and Helena saw Clint and Natasha take up secure positions inside the door. With a sigh she waved them over. No need for them to stay inside.

“Fury wants you in MTAC”, Natasha told her.

Helena snorted. “Fury can kiss my ass. He isn’t my boss. There are pretty few people who can order me around and I am on official stand down ordered from my superiors, so I can take care of Tony.”

Clint smiled. “Are you really going to prosecute Captain America?”, he wanted to know.

“Oh yeah … it’s not the first time he committed crimes against Tony and this time I am in a position to kick his ass and make his life difficult. I know he is a war hero, I respect that. But he does not respect anyone's authority but his own. He always is so fucking proud of his rank, but he never technically underwent any training, military or otherwise. He does not know how a good soldier behaves. He does not know how the chain of command works. This is not me hating on the army, but specifically on the man. He does not embody the virtues of America’s Soldiers, since he never was one.”, Helena answered him and carefully moved Tony’s limbs. He was so skinny, he would have pressure sores if she did not turn him over every so often.

Clint nodded in understanding. Before he could ask anything else, Nebula introduced herself formally and knelt down beside the sunbed. She leaned her head against Tony’s and Helena could feel, how she tried to connect with Tony. Instead of reacting violently, she reached out and gently tapped against Nebula’s shoulder.

“He’s in a medically induced sleep. He needs the rest, so please let him sleep. Anything you want to know, you can ask me or J.A.R.V.I.S.”, Helena said softly.

“Uhm … will he recover?”, Nebula asked.

Helena laughed. “Tony is too stubborn not to … and now his body has the energy to heal itself, he will be better in no time.”

“Natasha? Could you hand me another feeding bag? His sugar levels are getting low and the wound in his stomach needs more energy to heal.”, she asked.

Natasha’s brows rose. “He has a physical injury? Shouldn’t he be down in medical?”

Helena shook her head, while she accepted the bag and exchanged it with the empty one. “He should have been in medical, when I arrived at the scene hours after he came back. But your ‘teamleader’ did not care about his health and neither did Doctor Cho, who was informed and tasked with looking after his health. She did not care for hunting him down and taking care of him, when he arrived after 48 days in space. Now she won’t get to take care of him ever again. I’ll take care of my husband.”

“Husband? When did you …”, Natasha asked.

“Before the powers that be decided to put me on like twenty back to back missions all over the world. We never made it to our wedding night or our honeymoon.”, Helena answered a little dejectedly.

“Tony never said anything.”, Natasha said.

“He didn’t have any reason to. None of you have been exactly friendly with him since this Civil War bullshit and even before it wasn’t like you were best friends. He tried, but you were all standoffish, because he isn’t the typical teamplayer.”, Helena shrugged.

She liked most of the Avengers or at least respected them enough to not bust their asses on the regular, but some of them were getting on her nerves.

“By the way … where exactly is Miss Maximoff? I know she is in the compound, but I haven’t seen her yet. I need to introduce myself after all.”, Helena mused.

“Do you want to do this here?”, Remy asked her.

“No … this woman won’t be coming into Tony’s space ever again. There’s a common area for a reason. The only persons who can enter this suite on the regular will be Tony and I. No one else.”, Helena answered him.

“I will find her and bring her into the meeting room.”, Remy told her.

“No … the gym, Rems … I’m gonna take her to the mats.”, Helena said.

“Okay, Captain, as you wish. Should I come up here again to stand watch?”, he asked her.

“No … stay with Wanda and let J alert me, when you are there.”

Remy left and only Nebula, Natasha and Clint were left with her.

“Are you sure, you want to take someone with Wanda’s powers onto the mats? She will wreck you, given half a chance.”, Clint warned her.

Helena smiled. “I’m no slouch, Clint. I know, you all always see the scientist and doctor in me, but I am not only that. I think it’s time I show them, I mean business. If I have to break a couple of bones, that’s no skin of my teeth.” She shrugged and gently repositioned Tony again.

He got restless and Helena sighed. She knew what would help, but she had things to do. So she turned towards Nebula. “You kept him safe … can you do so for a little while longer, while I make things safe here?”, she asked her.

Nebula studied her for a moment and nodded. “Okay … just lay down with him and hold him. Hand on his stomach.”, she instructed the young alien.

Nebula obeyed and asked softly about the feeding tube. Helena explained it to her and instructed her to keep the tube uncoiled all the time, before she looked towards Natasha and Clint.

“You wanna accompany me?”, she wanted to know.

Both assassins grinned. “Sure. I want to see what our little scientist is capable of.”, Clint teased her, only to find himself down on the ground on his back with Helena above him, pressing her arm against his throat with a positively wicked smile.

Clint stared at her with wide eyes. “Fuck … that’s kinda hot”, he mumbled.

Helena grinned, sprang to her feet and held her hand out to help him, while Natasha laughed.

The three of them walked down towards the gym. Even halfway down the hallway they could hear Wanda arguing with Remy and Helena rolled her eyes.

“I will make you let me out of this room!”, the witch screamed and Helena stepped up behind Remy. She tapped her fingers against his arm and he stepped to the side to let her through. Clint and Natasha followed.

“You will do no such thing, Miss Maximoff. I thought your contract with S.H.I.E.L.D. was pretty clear on the repercussions, if you use your wiles on innocent people.”, Helena said.

“Who do you think you are?”, Wanda screamed agitated.

“Oh .. I know who I am. But let me enlighten you. My name is Captain Helena Rebecca Stark nee Barnes. You are here by the graces of my husband one Anthony Edward Stark, but you are wearing out your welcome real fast.”

Wanda growled and you could see her powers gather in a red halo around her hands.

“You should think really hard about what you are doing right now, Miss Maximoff. One wrong move could cost you your life.” 

Helena’s voice sounded disinterested. Clint, Natasha and Remy stiffened, but Helena was relaxed. 

“I’ll kill you, you bitch!”, Wanda screamed and started to wave her hand only to drop dead, because Helena put a bullet right between her eyes. Her body keeled over backwards and Helena sighed. 

“I hate it, when they make me kill them.”

“It’s not your fault, Phoenix.”, Remy said earnestly.

“I know, Rems … still … this was unnecessary. I’ve read every fucking thing about her and HYDRA stated she has extraordinary control over her powers. So she was just playing with us and it angers me that I had to kill her over her juvenile behaviour.”, Helena said with resignation in her voice.

Remy softly told her, he would take care of everything and she should go and take care of Tony. Helena obeyed and left the room.

Natasha and Clint stared at Wanda’s corpse. “She shot her … just like that. Sweet, soft, scientist Helena shot her.”, Clint muttered. Natasha shook her head. “You know she isn’t a scientist, Clint … well, she is … until she isn’t. She is trained … just like we are.”, Natasha said and patted his cheek, before leveling her gaze on Remy. “Come on … I’ll help you.”, she said. “Me too”, Clint followed her lead.

  
  
*

Helena wound up laying beside Tony in the sun. Nebula had curled up on the ground. She held his hand and watched over both of them.

Helena stared at Tony’s face. It was soft in sleep and she gently caressed his cheek. “Soon I’ll let you wake”, she whispered and gave him another bag of nutrients.

  
  
*

A couple of days later it was time. Helena gently cut back on the drugs that held Tony asleep. Most days she had him out in the sun, so his ‘batteries’ could charge and she gave him three to four bags of nutrients each day.

So his body had filled out nicely again. Helena sat by his side and simply waited until those beautiful whiskey coloured eyes fluttered open.

  
  
*

Hours later sexy times ensued. Tony wanted to lose himself in Helena for a while and she let him do, what he wanted.

She loved the way he stripped her bare and touched her all over. Some touches gentle, some hard and demanding. He was driving her wild with lust, but never giving her what she wanted.

She begged him for his cock, but he never gave in. When she was nearly crying from frustration and pent up near orgasms, Tony gently turned her onto her stomach and put a pillow beneath her hips. 

Helena propped herself up on her forearms as he directed her and she shook her ass at him. 

“Please, Tony.”, she whimpered and a moment later, he entered her with a long thrust, while a cup of ice cream appeared in her line of sight.

Tony gently made love to her, while feeding her the ice cream. 

Helena let him love her like this. She moaned sinfully and accepted everything he gave her. She felt his cool hands caressing her sensitive skin and shuddered from one orgasm to another. 

Tony matched her from peak to peak, pumping her full of his semen. His left hand fed her, while the right massaged her clit and letting her come again and again.

Finally they were so fucked out, Tony put the cup away and gathered her against his chest. They drifted off to sleep and the last thing Helena realised, was Hades telling her, Tony had just impregnated her. A soft, happy smile was on her face, when she finally fell asleep.

  
  
*

A couple of weeks later morning sickness was her best friend, but she was trained to withstand such things. So she puked her guts out before, during and after her training in the morning and got on with her day everyday, because as the SEALs liked to say ‘The only easy day was yesterday’.

Helena knew Tony would be over the moon with joy, when she would finally tell him. She knew, he would want her to quit with the SEALs, but she made a deal with Whip. She would and could stay on, as long as she stayed out of the field.

  
  
*

Weeks flew by and the Thanos crisis intensified. Captain America, who was back on probation, insisted they find a way to travel back in time and fetch the Infinity Stones. 

Helena knew Tony had found a way ages ago, but she did not want Captain America back in the past. At least not alone. 

Only with extreme reluctance did she let him travel back to Tony's side and agreed to wait for the group.

She primed the SEALs, who were on base, to battle readiness and waited. She knew deep in her gut that Thanos would make an appearance, as soon as the Stones were all together in one place.

While she waited, she send out notices to Pepper and Rhodey. They should get their armor ready and make their way over. She knew, Pepper hated the Rescue armor, but they would need all hands on deck.

  
  
*

Chaos erupted around them. Thanos, his children and the armies he controlled descended onto the compound. Helena rubbed her forehead before she manifested her armor. It felt different than normal, but she paid it no mind and plunged into the fray.

Helena watched the way Thanos chased the glove containing the Infinity Stones across the battlefield. She killed the enemies with extreme prejudice, but there were to many.

Then Bruce had the glove and he snapped his fingers, reversing the snap that had happened before. Moments later the tides turned and with the help of the Sorcerer Supreme and his forces troops from Wakanda and all over the world arrived. Even Bucky was back.

They started to slaughter the alien forces, when Thanos got his hands on the glove and suddenly Tony was there. Helena knew he stole the Stones, before Thanos words echoed above the battlefield, followed by Tony’s.

“I am inevitable …”, Thanos stated, snapping his fingers, before realizing nothing had happened.

Tony smiled grimly and answered: “And I AM IRON MAN!”, before he snapped his fingers and Thanos and his forces started to disintegrate.

Helena saw Tony go down, the power of the Stones burning through his body. She made her way over to him. Pepper, Peter Parker and Rhodey were already with him. 

“He’s dying … he can’t die … no”, Peter whispered, while he was clinging onto Rhodey.

Pepper was blathering at Tony, but Helena shoved her out of the way. She knelt in front of him and smiled tightly at him. 

“Tony, look at me. We're gonna be okay. You can rest now..”, she told him, holding his hand above her armors arc reactor. Her lips found his in a gentle kiss and she felt him smile, before he lost consciousness.

  
  
*

“He’s dead … IRON MAN DIED!”, Peter Parker wailed. People started to kneel down, but Helena shook her head. With Hades help she made Tony’s armor recede and afterwards she lifted him up in her arms.

She started walking towards the compound, her men falling in line beside her. “Let me carry him, Phoenix.”, Remy asked her.

“That’s not my call sign anymore, Remy … and you know it. It’s Tony’s now.”, she whispered.

“You mean to tell me he is not dead?”, a Wakandan soldier asked from somewhere to the side. 

Helena shook her head. “No. He will need some medical attention, something I will give him, as soon as we are safe. In a couple of days he will be as good as gold … and probably spitting mad with me.”, she said. 

“Why would he be mad with you?”, Remy asked.

Helena bit her lips, before she offered: “Because I am pregnant”

“Holy mother of fuck, Phoenix. Are you nuts? Going into the field?”, Remy started to rant.

  
“Can it, Remy. I know … but I couldn’t leave him alone out there. He needed me.”, Helena said.

“Does he know?”, Remy wanted to know.

Helena shook her head and stepped into the elevator. When they reached the medical wing, she entered Tony’s private room and gently laid him down on the bed.

She stripped him down and treated him like she did after his return from space. She slid a feeding tube down his nose and put a big bag of highly nutritious sludge on it, while she directed Remy to prepare an hydration enema. 

Helena let Remy apply it, after she stripped Tony of his under armor. She gently cleaned Tony’s wounds and afterwards took care of Remy, before it even registered with her, that she was still in her armor.

She tapped against her arc reactor and the armor receded and the strange feeling in her stomach was back. 

“J? Could you please scan my torso, specifically my womb while I put on the armor again and take it off?”, Helena asked the AI.

After she got an affirmative, she did what she said and watched in stunned silence, when J.A.R.V.I.S. showed them the video of the scan.

The tiny life inside her womb mimicked her and it’s body was encased in armor and the womb itself was protected by a thick layer of nanites. 

Helena’s eyes closed and she sat down on the floor, breathing heavily. Inside her head she talked to Hades and asked him, to scan the tiny life again for Extremis, nanites and an AI.

While Hades took care of this, Helena’s attention turned outwards again and she registered Remy’s panic.

“Shhh … I’m alright, Remy. It doesn’t hurt. It just feels really strange. Kind of like layering the armor in and outside.”, she murmured and yawned.

“Take it off again and lay down beside Tony. I want to put you on the sludge too. You and the baby will need the calories after this.”, Remy told her after a moment.

With extreme reluctance Helena followed his instructions and let Remy, who had intense medic training, put her on a feeding tube. When he was finished with it, she told him to just give her an enema too, because she was tired and wanted to sleep.

“I want to put both of you onto I.V.s. You will both sleep for a while and I don’t want you to dehydrate anymore.”, Remy said.

“Do what you think is best.”, Helena muttered and slid into a deep, restful sleep.

  
  
*

Warm lips moving against hers coaxed her back to consciousness an undetermined amount of time later. Helena didn’t want to wake up and it showed in the way she curled against the warm body beside her own; the way she buried her face against the strong chest.

“Helena … baby … come on, wake up … show me your gorgeous eyes.”, Tony whispered against her ear.

A shiver ran down her spine and her fingers clenched against his sides, while she shook her head no. She didn’t want to wake up and face reality again.

She knew so much would have changed. She knew, because Hades had flooded her brain with new information, as soon as her conscious had started to surface. 

Bucky had taken the Infinity Stones back to where they belonged against Captain America’s will and he had used them to make changes. She felt it in her bones. Significant changes.

“Mom … please wake up.”

Helena’s body stiffened. She knew that voice. 

Spider Man … Peter Parker

_ Peter Benjamin Parker Stark, your second oldest _ , Hades supplied and seconds later, after she had opened her eyes and stared at the three teens beside the bed, Hades supplied her with the names of the other two. _ Harley Keener Stark and Riri Williams Stark, your oldest and youngest respectively. You and Tony adopted them years ago. _

Tony’s hand gently turned Helena’s head and searched her stunned face. “It wasn’t you, who went back in time and made changes, right?”, he asked.

Helena shook her head. “No … but I know who … there is only one person, who would … could have done this … Tony … your mum is alive … and we’ve been married for fifteen years … and I’ve been raised by my real father, not the man I called father all my life, although he was there too … that means Bucky went back … and he prevented so many unnecessary deaths in our timeline.”, she whispered.

“Your real father?”, Tony asked stunned. 

“You always thought I descended from Rebecca Barnes, right?”, she asked.

Tony nodded. 

“Well … I let the world think that, but she’s really my aunt. Which sounds odd, because I’m so young … but my dad is her brother. James Buchannan Barnes is the man who fathered me. I knew, but he always made me call him Uncle, although I hated it … but it seems, he set the world to rights.”, Helena whispered.

“So it’s not only me who remembers things differently?”, Tony asked.

Helena shook her head. “Most is the same … but some things … are different. I think, I went with you to Afghanistan and we prevented the Ten Rings getting you … Obie never managed SI after your fathers death … but you still became Iron Man … so that was meant to be. Like me being a SEAL … but it seems I’ve been out of the field for quite some time … they made me a desk jockey after I turned thirty, even though I am still field ready … and the incident with Hammer never happened.”, Helena whispered in awe.

“Moooom … what are you talking about? Are you alright?”, Harley asked.

Helena smiled softly at her oldest. “All is well, my darling boy. I guess, I just have pregnancy brain.”, she answered and put Tony’s hand against her stomach. 

“You are …?”, he asked stunned.

Helena smiled. “Yes … and it’s not only ours, but also Hades and FRIDAYS … well … at least it was, before I went to sleep. Where is Remy?”

“Uncle Remy is downstairs”, Riri answered.

“Okay … how about you three go downstairs too and your dad and me will follow in a couple of minutes, alright?”, Helena asked her three adoptive children.

They nodded and left the room. 

Helena curled up against Tony’s chest. “How do you feel?”, she asked him.

“Still a bit run over, but Extremis is taking care of it. The Stones were pretty intense. I’m lucky you updated Extremis or it would have cost me my life.”, Tony answered and held her close.

“So we’re going to be parents for real? The whole shebang … diapers, midnight feedings and co? All the things we kind of missed with Harley, Peter and Riri?”, he wanted to know.

“Hmmm … and if Hades is to be believed, we get our very own little princess, complete with her own armor, AI and Extremis. A safer kid will never be born”, Helena grinned.

“Holy shit … we gave her all that? That’s crazy.”, Tony whispered.

“It is … but every time I activated my armor, I could feel her do it too. J.A.R.V.I.S. has scans showing it.”, Helena whispered back and gently ran her hands down Tony’s shoulders.

When she felt something that hadn’t been there, when she fell asleep. She sat up and studied the tattoo with a grin. “So … it seems, my darling husband, you followed me to Team Six, before taking over Stark Industries.”

Tony blinked and after a moment nodded. “Seems like it. I resigned my commission, when we got married.”, he said and gently kissed his wife. His hand found her stomach again and he gently caressed it. 

They lost themselves in mutual pleasure for a while, before they decided to show the world that Tony Stark was indeed the Phoenix, the SEALs had called him. 

  
  
*

Helena and Tony Stark were a well liked couple. They were at home both with the high society and normal people. They worked hard in their jobs and supported many charity organisations not only with money but also with their own handy work. 

They hadn’t been seen in society for a couple of months after the throw down with Thanos, so when it was announced that Helena Stark was nearly nine months pregnant, many people were surprised. A whole lot of them had thought, she suffered some kind of medical condition, because she and her husband had adopted three kids. 

With a soft smile gracing her face, Helena explained the situation during an interview with Ellen, which she had accepted, because she wanted to show the world they weren’t lost to them. 

“Not many people know this … but it’s not a secret … at least not anymore … thanks by the way for that, Mr. President.”, she started. “I’ve known Tony for a long time … we entered college together and share a couple of degrees. When I decided to follow my dreams and become a Navy SEAL, Tony decided to follow me. We made war together and when he asked me to marry him, the Corps asked us to separate on a professional level. So Tony resigned his commision and took over Stark Industries full time, while I stayed in the Corps. I still am part of the Corps, but I don’t go into the field anymore. So we decided to let nature take its course and if we were destined to have a baby, we would and here we are.”

Ellen smiled and looked awed. She and the audience couldn’t believe that such a sweet and gentle looking woman could be a SEAL. Helena pulled down the collar of her shirt and showed of her tattoo.

“Okay … and where is your husband today?”, Ellen wanted to know because she had invited him along with his wife.

Helena smiled. “He stayed at home to help our daughter with her end of year project for college. Last I saw them before leaving, she had him handing her tools.”

“So he is living the family life many people accused him of not having?”

“Very much so. Tony Stark is nothing if not a family man.”, Helena said and started to stand, because she could hear a weapon being primed.

Without conscious thought, she stood before Ellen and took two bullets for her. Helena went down to her knees with a grunt, while her armor encased her underneath her clothes.

Hades scanned the crowd and seconds later she was moving in on the culprit. The crowd split like the Red Sea before her and she pinned the shooter down with her k-bar through his hand, before she pulled out her mobile phone and called Tony, to tell him, she was safe.

It didn’t really help, because approximately sixty seconds later the ceiling of Ellen’s studio was ripped open and Spider Man, Iron Heart, Iron Man and Iron Lad dropped into the room. 

“Mum? Are you okay?”, Spider Man asked her, after he had lifted her from the culprit.

“I’m fine”, Helena said.

“Nope, you aren’t, mum … you’re bleeding.”, Iron Lad told her and gently pressed his hand against her bleeding side.

“We’ll get her home, dad … it’s not serious.”, Iron Heart spoke and Iron Man was the only one left behind. He held the shooter down with his armored foot and waited for the police, not answering any questions.

  
  
*

Tony Stark was greeted with an energy blast to the chest and a hefty berating from his wife, when he entered the infirmary back at the compound. 

“You will never get to impregnate me again … this fucking hurts … I’d rather have Hammer torturing me again!!!!”, Helena screeched.

It took Tony about three seconds to comprehend his wife was in labour. He discarded his armor, showered in record time, before he was at his wife’s side.

He held her hand for hours, accepted every angry word and growl from Helena, because he could feel her pain. FRIDAY made sure of it, when she linked up with Hades. 

They were all in this together.

So when Morgan Howard Stark finally was born both the humans and their respective AIs were exhausted. 

Tony gently held his wife in his arms; the little newborn girl lay on her chest making her feelings for being outside of her mommas warm womb known.

His strong warm hand took the soft blanket from his oldest sons hand and he gently wrapped Morgan into it. “There, there, squirt. It’s alright.”, Tony murmured with a smile, when her cries turned into hiccups, before stopping.

Warmth and happiness enveloped the small family, when their three adoptive children, who were all but grown up, stepped into the room.

In the aftermath of Thanos’ defeat the family had risen like a phoenix from the ashes.

~The End~


End file.
